The Franklin (Tennessee) Police Department and the FBI are, once again, asking for the public’s help in solving the 1991 murder of a 49-year-old mother who was shot and killed by an unknown assailant or assailants while on the job at a Franklin restaurant. The Bureau just increased its reward in the case to $15,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual(s) responsible for the murder.

On February 1, 1991, Peggy Cox was on duty at her drive-through station at a Hardee’s restaurant in Franklin. At approximately 11:45 p.m., she took an order from a customer; when the vehicle drove up to the window, she was shot with a small caliber handgun. She was discovered lying near the drive-through window by a co-worker—her 20-year-old son—who had heard the gunshots. Cox was taken to the hospital, where she died of a single gunshot wound to her neck. Detectives from the Franklin Police Department conducted an extensive investigation but were unable to identify a suspect or a motive, and, over time, the case went cold.

Twenty years later, in 2011, the case was reopened and assigned to a Franklin Police Department detective who is part of a Bureau task force operating out of the Nashville Resident Agency of our Memphis Field Office. The FBI began providing assistance in the case and, in 2014, initially offered a reward of $10,000. It’s our hope that this latest public push by law enforcement in the case leads to someone coming forward with a key piece of information or evidence that results in justice for Peggy Cox and closure for her three children.